Published: 21/08/2013 07:01 PM | Updated: 23/08/2013 07:17 AM

Syrian regime blocks UN experts’ access to “chemical attack” site

A Syrian opposition official said that the regime was preventing UN chemical experts from visiting the site of an alleged chemical attack near Damascus.

Speaking to NOW on Wednesday, Captain Alaa al-Basha – head of the chemical weapons case documentation office - said that the Syrian opposition informed the UN chemical experts team working in Syria of the instances of the attack but was told that “the Syrian regime did not provide [the UN officials] with permits to leave their area and head to Eastern Ghouta.”

“How could a UN delegation, that is backed by nations calling themselves ‘great powers,’ not be able to leave its hotel, since the monstrous regime cannot provide evidence of its own crimes?”

“The UN experts are a few hundred meters distance from the location of the massacre and they are speaking about getting permission before heading there.”

“If they do not want to go there, let them peep through the windows of the their rooms to see the smoke and the smell of death that is filling all of Syria and not only Damascus.”

The Syrian opposition official also said that medical reports from the location of the attack outside Damascus “confirmed that the victims’ deaths were caused by inhalation of Sarin gas.”

“The high number of casualties is caused by the spread of gases near busy residential areas, as well as the ad-hoc nature of the rescue operation.”

An alleged chemical attack took place earlier on Wednesday in the area outside the Syrian capital Damascus, which the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said killed at least 100 people, without mentioning the use of chemical weapons.

However, the opposition Syrian National Coalition claimed that 1,300 people had died in a chemical attack.

Syrian authorities immediately denied that the army had used chemical weapons, saying the reports were intended to hinder the mission of the UN inspectors.